SUMMARY:
In which Annabeth discovers further proof that Percy is a doofus.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.
Annabeth smiled as she scribbled the answer to a particularly difficult math problem. Five down, five to go. She turned her workbook page and began reading the next problem when she noticed that it was quiet. Weird.
She looked up. Across the table from her, surrounded by a jumbled mess of crinkled papers, Percy sat quietly, boring holes into his homework. His eyebrows were knitted tightly, his tongue between his teeth. He wasn't even holding his pencil. It was absolutely the cutest thing she'd ever seen (and that included the funny cat videos on Youtube).
"Need some help with that, Percy?"
He looked up, a sheepish grin on his face. "Please."
She smiled, got up and peered over Percy's shoulder.
"I checked my answer in the textbook. And I don't get why I keep getting the wrong answer."
Annabeth scanned the paper. Percy must have attempted this problem at least seven times. Poor thing. "Here." Annabeth pointed to the most legible attempt. "You forgot to take the natural log of both sides when you tried to cancel out e to the x."
Percy studied the paper for a minute. "Oh." Then he frowned.
Annabeth kissed his jaw, letting her lips linger. "Don't worry about it. You're doing much better than you were two weeks ago."
"You think?"
"Absolutely." Annabeth brought her chair and books over to Percy's side of the table. "We can do some of the questions together if you want."
Percy shook his head. "I want to see if I can do them on my own."
Annabeth turned to her homework, smiling at the sound of Percy writing beside her. They worked in silence for a couple minutes.
"Hey, Annabeth?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I look at your notes?"
She beamed at him. "Sure," she said and handed him her notebook. "But don't crinkle them." She was so proud of him. Percy was a mess when he first came rushing to her for help - several chapters behind the class. He had been in dire need of help; not to mention his horrible study habits. Weeks ago he would have just copied the answers from the textbook or, to her annoyance, secretly copied her work. Now he was taking an active role in his education.
Percy was even to engulfed in his work to notice when Sally brought milk and cookies to the dining table ("Oh, Annabeth. I don't know how he'd survive without you!"). And after a well deserved snack break, they got back to work.
A minute passed. "Hey, Annabeth?"
"Yes, Percy?"
"What's this?" Percy pointed to the margins of her notebook where she had doodled during class. "Square root of negative one heart math?"
"Think about it, Percy."
He merely stared at the paper. "Um. The square root of negative one... has feelings?"
"No, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said slowly. "The square root of negative one is the value ι . So 'I heart math'."
Percy squinted at the paper. "ι? What's ι supposed to mean?"
"Imaginary. It's for imaginary number calculations."
Percy's jaw dropped in horror. "There are imaginary numbers?"
"Don't worry about that." Annabeth patted his head. "You won't need to know that for the test."
Percy just turned away, shaking his head and muttering, "Imaginary numbers? I draw the line."
Annabeth hid her smile into the back of her hand. Seaweed Brain.
"Annabeth! Guess what!" Percy waved his calc test in her face. "I passed!"
Annabeth smiled. He'd been bursting to say it all the way back to his apartment. "That's great, Percy." She draped her parka on the back of the dining room chair.
"Wait here!"
Annabeth raised her eyebrows as Percy rushed to his room. He returned with a card. Her name was drawn on it graffiti style with an owl perched on the second 'a' of her name. She opened the card and held back the urge to giggle. In bright red marker, it read: √-1 ❤ μ . Annabeth rolled her eyes. It seemed she needed to give Percy a refresher course on Ancient Greek. "Thank you, Percy. This is really sweet of you."
She gave Percy a hug then proceeded to unpack her schoolbag.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Nothing."