The Stories of Our Heroes

Self Defense

Set right after the Titan War.

Annabeth was sitting in the empty Athena cabin, wracking her brain for a new idea. Chiron had asked her to teach a new type of class, just until the end of the summer, for any camper that wanted to take their mind off of the past few weeks. But she had no clue what she should offer. Sword fighting, archery, arts and crafts, kick boxing, gardening, and pretty much everything else she could think of was so overdone. Maybe... jousting? She wasn't sure how much the pegasi would appreciate that - she'd ask Percy what he thought.

Annabeth stood up and headed to the back door of her cabin. She and Percy had discovered that the path behind the cabins had significantly less traffic than the main one in front. These days, they tried to cause the least amount of commotion as possible to see each other. The camp was still buzzing about the cutest new couple..

Occupied with thoughts about her new boyfriend, Annabeth wasn't paying much attention as she stepped outside. Just as the door was closing, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind and squeezed. She only had time to register it was man before she used a nicely placed elbow to knock him backwards. She then raised her foot to go for the kill but his voice stopped her.

"Damn Wise Girl, okay, okay, I got it!"

Annabeth whipped around to be met with her boyfriend's sea green eyes.

"Oh gods, I'm sorry Percy, I didn't know it was you-"

"It's fine, I should have known better than to sneak up on you. I learned my lesson though," he said with his trademark smirk. "Anyways, Achilles' curse, remember? It didn't even hurt."

Annabeth smiled at Percy. "Well, thank you, actually, for attacking me-" he opened his mouth to protest but she kept going- "because that just gave me a great idea for my class. How do you feel about reenacting this a million times?"

Percy sighed. " I just came over to cuddle, and now I have to be a creep."

Annabeth kissed him on the cheek.

------

"Welcome to Self Defense Class," Annabeth greeted the small group of demigods in front of her. They did not look enthusiastic.

"Tough crowd," Percy murmured over her shoulder.

"Uh," one of the more seasoned campers said, raising her hand," why are we doing this? Don't we already know how to protect ourselves?" The group muttered in agreement.

"Well," Annabeth started confidently as she had been anticipating this question, "we train to protect ourselves against monsters and Titans and other things that can be taken down with a sword. But what if you were walking down the street and a mortal attacked you? You can't use your sword, so what would you do?"

It was quiet for a few seconds before one of the younger kids piped up. "Kick him where the sun don't shine!"

Percy couldn't help but chuckle in agreeance.

"Yes, that's always a good idea," Annabeth said, "but I'm going to teach you some other moves so you'll always have an option. Alright, Percy and I are going to demonstrate and then you guys will have a chance to try. Thanks to his invincibility, you're able to fully carry out your actions and you don't have to worry about hurting him."

"Tell them no shots to my back," Percy whispered to his girlfriend.

"Right, right, sorry," she whispered back. Annabeth cleared her throat and said louder, "But, uh, only aim for the front of Percy because... otherwise it's just mean." She ended with a pointed look to her class so they wouldn't question her logic. "Okay, the first one is..."

An hour later, Annabeth was very pleased with her Self Defense lesson. Everyone had gotten a successful jab in at Percy, and a few of them had even knocked him down to his knees.

"You alright, Seaweed Brain?" she asked him before she ended class.

"Never better," he answered, sprawled out on the ground.

"Whatever you say," she responded while holding out a hand. He took it and stood up, giving her a quick kiss.

-----

"You were a great teacher today," Percy told Annabeth as she sat next to him at the campfire.

She smiled warmly at him. "Thanks. I hoped they learned something. That's about the best I can give them... maybe next session I'll give you a weapon and then-"

"Annabeth," he cut her off. "You know I love to help you, but I am not getting more aggressive than today. It's already weird enough."

She sighed. "Okay, yeah. Thanks for your help, by the way."

"Couldn't have done it without me, huh Wise Girl?"

"Definitely not."

"Hey Princess," a voice called over to the couple.

"Is she talking to you or me?" Percy grumbled as Clarisse walked their way.

"I heard you're teaching a self defense class and this dummy," she jerked her thumb at Percy "is the dummy. So I want in."

"Are you sure you really need to learn self defense? I think you're good to go, Clarisse," Annabeth tried.

"No, of course I don't need to learn it! I just can't pass up the opportunity to kick Jackson in the crotch." A wicked smile crossed her face as she walked away.

Annabeth looked at Percy's face and winced. "Chiron said I can't turn anyone away..."

Percy groaned dramatically. "I am going to die."

"Fortunately, you can't do that."

"Don't remind me."