Annabeth POV: After TLO and before TLH

"Percy, you have to finish your homework," I told my boyfriend sternly. I was laying on the couch in his family's apartment, reading a book. Percy was sitting upright in front of my stomach, trying to do his school at the coffee table. But he kept spacing off and then complaining he didn't know anything.

"You need to concentrate," I said again.

He huffed angrily, chucking his pencil across the room. "Well, the world needs to stop World Hunger issues, and Zeus needs to make it rain in California because of the huge drought, and grocery stores need to make blue ice cream. Doesn't mean they're doing anything about it. Why should I be any different?"

"Because this is due tomorrow, and you've gotten nothing done."

"And I'm not planning on getting anything done either. This is boring and won't help me when I'm facing monsters or whatever. Why should I do it?" He exhaled dramatically, yanking his feet up and laying down on the couch, snuggling up to me and burying his head in my neck. I rolled my eyes, absentmindedly kissing the top of his ebony covered head.

"Percy, it's school. You have to do it."

Percy's sea-green eyes peeked up at me from my shoulder, looking like a puppy. "Will you help me?" His voice was timid.

I sighed. "Fine, but you have to concentrate." His eyes lit up when I consented. I pushed him up so he was sitting again, and then swung my legs over so I was seated beside him. My hands grabbed his math book, pulling it to me. I glanced at what he was learning, then nodded.

"Okay, so here we go." I launched into an explanation of how things worked. More than once I had to snap my fingers in front of my boyfriend's face so he would stop spacing off. It didn't take me too long, and soon I had worked out the full example question on his notebook with a pencil he hadn't thrown yet. Percy had leaned his head on my shoulder, watching me work.

"So," I concluded, "when you bring the twenty-nine over here and add it with the x-squared, you get three. So 'x' equals three. Got it? Now you try the next one." I handed him the pencil, waiting. He dragged his head off my shoulder, cold air invading the once warm spot.

He took the notebook, looked at it for a second, then said, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat something."

Exhaling in exasperation, I told him, "That only took five minutes, Seaweed Brain. You just ate, too."

He stared at me. Then an incredulous word was jerked from his mouth. "No. That couldn't have taken five minutes. That was at least a half of an hour."

Pursing my lips, I glanced at the clock behind us on the wall. "Uh, no, Perce. That took exactly six minutes."

His eyes were flooded with disbelief. "Well, I'm still hungry." He started to get up, but I yanked him back down again. He fell onto the couch with an "oof!" and I glared at him.

"You are not stopping. Besides, your mom and Paul will be back within the next hour, and they're bringing pizza. You can eat then."

He groaned loudly. "This is worse than bathing in the Styx!"

"Oh, stop exaggerating. Now, the first question. Come on."

For the next fifteen or so minutes, Percy struggled through three questions, but each of the answers he acquired (if he got through the questions without giving up) weren't right- not even close. I tried to help him, but he just didn't get it. He kept sighing angrily and getting frustrated. Not to mention he couldn't concentrate one bit. Usually when I was trying to explain something, he would just stare at me, or the wall, or the bookshelf, or even the ceiling, muttering nonsense about how math had to be the brother of Hades or Ares, coming back to torment him through his "young, innocent years."

"Percy," I said finally, not taking it anymore. "You have to get this done."

"I can't concentrate!" he protested, throwing his hands up in the air.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, thinking hard. "There has to be some way. Think, think, think. You need a reward of some sort."

Percy just crossed his arms, mumbling, "You are a horrid woman, making me do this."

I clapped my hands together suddenly. "I know! For every question you get right, you get a kiss."

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "From who?"

"Oh, I don't know, from the wall, maybe," I said, sarcasm dripping off my voice. "Me, idiot." His frown slowly faded, replaced by a growing smile as he gazed at me.

"You are an amazing woman," he said. A laugh was torn from me.

"You have to get them right," I reminded him. He nodded eagerly, then turned back to his work, took the notebook in his hand, and started to write. I'd never seen him look so concentrated. He focused, looking from his calculator to the paper, scribbling down a line of problems being assorted out. My eyebrows rose as I watched him. He was doing this one in half the time that he did one before. Then he quickly wrote down an answer and beamed up at me. I checked it, my amazement growing as I saw he got most every detail right, ending up with the correct answer.

"You got it right," I said disbelievingly. He grinned lopsidedly, like a little boy proud of his work. I laughed, then leaned down and pecked his lips softly.

"Oh, come on, that was barely a kiss," he complained, crossing his arms.

I smirked. "With each one you get right in a row, they'll get longer." He rolled his eyes, but went back. Again, I was in awe of his work. He was doing incredibly well, and didn't lose focus. When he finished, I saw he got it right again. I shook my head, going back for another quick kiss. However, as I was pulling away, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me back, kissing me deeper. I smiled against the kiss, feeling his fingers tangle in my hair. His lips moved gently across mine, his breath hot when he pulled out for air.

My head came back, out of his reach. "Stop, that's not fair," I said sternly.

He smiled smugly. "You liked it." I sent my eyes to the sky, shoving his notebook back at him. He chuckled, taking it and going to work.

This one he got wrong, and I watched in amusement as he cursed himself and banged his head against the hard backboard of the couch, moaning about how life sucked. I giggled watching him, telling him to try again. He took a deep breath, delving into his math book again.

So for the next half hour, we went like that. Percy getting a run of right answers, me kissing him with a smile, then he would get one wrong and act like he was being tortured by the Furies. The kisses would get longer, and more than once we had to pull ourselves up from the couch to a sitting position again. But he was doing exceptionally well in his math. He just needed a reward. And he liked this one. Plus, I didn't mind it either. Percy pulled my out of my thoughts as he showed me another correct answer. I looked at the open answer book behind me, and shook my head, grabbing his shoulders to lean in again.

He started laughing into this kiss, and I tugged myself back, frowning. "What are you laughing at?" He bit his lip, trying to contain his chuckles, but I knew he was hiding something. He looked like he had done something wrong, but in a funny way, and didn't regret it. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get him to tell me. He stayed with his mouth closed stubbornly. But then one glance behind me gave it all away.

"You cheated!" I said, my jaw falling open, gesturing to the answer book behind me. If he leaned back a tiny bit, he could probably see the answers when I wasn't looking.

"Not on all! Just like, on ten of them! I swear!" he said, still guffawing and holding his hands up in defense.

I smacked his shoulder. "That's still cheating, Percy!"

"Come on, Wise Girl. You try not to cheat when you have a reward like this," he told me, still laughing. His broad shoulders shook with his laughter. I scoffed, getting up and walking towards the kitchen.

"You cheated," I murmured, more to myself as I walked. "I'm not giving you any more kisses for the next week for that, Seaweed Brain!" I called back to him.

"What?" he said alarmed, all humor disappearing. "Annabeth! No, I promise I'll not cheat! You can't do that!" An evil smile invaded my face as I got a glass of water.

"Who says I can't?" I asked.

"I do," he said matter-of-factly. "And I have half the control in this relationship." I choked on my water, leaning out to look at him through the doorway. He was sitting, arms crossed, on the couch, looking at me.

His stern look flickered. "Okay, maybe I have, like, a quarter."

I stared at him hard.

"A fifth?" he continued sheepishly.

Still staring.

He sighed, sounding defeated. "Yeah, you're right. You have me wrapped around your finger don't you?" He got up, walking towards me as I smiled in triumph. I was standing in next to the "L" shaped counter, and he backed me into the corner, placing his hands on the counter on either side of me. He pushed his head close, like he was going to kiss me.

"But that still wasn't very nice," he said softly, so close I could feel his nose. I was about to close the space between us, but he flicked a finger, and a stream of water from my cup shot up, splattering my face.

A surprised yelp escaped my mouth as Percy snickered and backed away. I wiped the water from my eyes, glowering at him as he laughed. I knew if I threw the water at him it wouldn't affect him, so I just grabbed the closest food and launched it at his face. Mashed potatoes from lunch.

His laughter cut off abruptly as the gooey mush collided with his face. It was my turn to laugh now, but he stopped that as he took some of the potatoes from his head and returned it to my face. He came up, smearing it harder into my hair, and I did the same. We were both laughing our heads off as I grabbed a tomato and squashed it on his black locks of hair. Juice dripped down onto the floor, and the pungent odor of tomatoes filled the air. He pushed me back, taking a cup of apple juice and throwing it in with the mashed potatoes.

We were screaming and shoving food at each other, making a huge mess, when we heard the door open.

"We're home!" Sally's voice rang through the apartment, and Percy and I froze. We looked around. The kitchen was a mess, with food everywhere. We looked back at each other, and I couldn't contain my laughter when I saw half a tomato sliding down his face like it was drooping, leaving a trail of slime.

Sally and Paul came around the corner in view of the kitchen, and they both froze, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Oh, my gods," Paul muttered, speaking like a true demigod.

Sally had looked around her kitchen, then back at the two food-covered teenagers standing by each other, each trying to muffle their giggles.

"I am so sorry, mom," Percy said between laughs. "Annabeth will clean it up in no time."

"Uh, excuse me?" I said indignantly, turning to look at him. "You mean you will."

"No, you will."

"No, you will, Seaweed Brain."

"Nice try, Wise Girl."

"I'm serious."

"And I'm cereal."

I sighed. "That doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does, my Lucky Charm," he said, smirking.

"Oh, gods."

"You better clean it up, or I'm going to have to ask you to Cheerio," he said, making a shooing motion with his hands.

"Enough with the cereal!"

We heard Sally sigh, shaking her head and smiling at the two of us. "What you two are going to do when you get married and live together, I have no clue. Constant arguing and a messy house. Annabeth will have her hands full. You'll be so cute!" She squealed a squeal worthy of Aphrodite when she sees something cute.

Percy and I both said simultaneously, pivoting to look at Sally, "What?!"

"Um, that's a little too far," Percy said nervously.

I said at the same time. "Sally, we- no, I- what?"

She shrugged. "Oh, it'll happen, just wait." Paul nodded in agreement, slinging an arm around his wife. By now, both Percy and my face were as red as the tomato that had now hit the floor from Percy's head.

"Besides," Sally said, a twinkle in her eye. "A mom is always right."

"That's true," Percy said, looking at me. I playfully shoved his arm as he smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back. He was so adorable, and he could always make me laugh.

Then I thought to myself, maybe if what Sally said actually happens... well, that wouldn't be too bad.

For some reason, I knew Percy was thinking the same exact thing. We glanced at each other, grinned, then went back to cleaning. Practice makes perfect.

Sorry for the late update! I've been really focused on updating Melody & Harmony and Forbidden Percabeth. Only one more chapter left in Forbidden Percabeth then I'm starting a new Percabeth story! I'll give you the details and name on the next chapter. :)