The Stories of Our Heroes

The Consequences of a Good Workout

Part of the high school series

This has a little bit more suggestive content than usual... but not too much :)

Every muscle in Annabeth's body hurt. Her arms were on fire, her core a big mass of ache, and her legs wobbled so much that she could barely walk. She considered bashing her head against the door of Percy's apartment as she entered to end the suffering, but decided that was a tad bit dramatic.

"Hi, honey," Sally greeted kindly as Annabeth trudged into the kitchen. "How was practice?"

"Torture. I feel like jello that got left in the sun," she grumbled, crashing into a chair.

Sally laughed softly. A delicious smell filled the air as she took a sheet of chocolate chips cookies out of the oven. "I'm sure you've dealt with worse things than conditioning. Have a cookie - you'll forget about the pain."

Annabeth smiled grimly, very well aware that she had endured a lot more suffering than high school volleyball practice, and it wasn't like Camp Halfblood demigod training was a stroll in the park, but still... who decided that six straight minutes of jump roping was a good idea? She mumbled a quick thanks to Sally as she grabbed a cookie. "What're Percy and Paul up to?"

"Paul ran to grab a few things at the grocery, Percy is in his room. You know, I think he might actually be doing his homework."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows slightly. "Really? Did you bribe him?"

"No, no," Sally said with a laugh. "I think he just works harder on his school stuff when you're around. You bring out the best in him, you know." Annabeth blushed and stuttered out something between a thank you and no, that's ridiculous.

A few minutes later, Annabeth was back on her feet - which felt like they were trying support some spaghetti noodles - and headed towards Percy's bedroom with a few blue cookies. She quietly rapped her knuckles against the almost closed door, nudging it open with her hip.

Percy swiveled his chair around. His hair was sticking up more than usual, like he'd been tearing his fingers through it incessantly, and his pencil was between his teeth. His econ textbook was the only thing on the desk, but it was closed.

"Working hard, I see," Annabeth teased, setting the plate of cookies next to the book.

"I was!" He set his pencil down and went to wrap his arms around her waist. She let him pull her closer, despite the fact that she only wanted either a hot shower or to lie down. She was still upright and he was still sitting, so he buried his face in her stomach and she stroked his messy hair.

The moment was ruined, however, when Percy mumbled into her shirt, "You are so sweaty."

Annabeth scoffed and pushed him away. She resorted to flopping face down on his bed.

"Someone's grumpy," he said, just loud enough to guarantee that she heard. She knew he was just trying to rile her up, but she didn't have the energy to win this fight.

"Percy, are you trying to piss off your dying girlfriend?"

"Dying?" She could hear the humor in his voice. She could imagine the amused expression he was probably wearing. "Gods, Wise Girl, I didn't know you could be so dramatic. Is volleyball conditioning too much for the great Annabeth Chase to handle?"

She decided not to respond to that. A few minutes of silence passed and Annabeth was about asleep until she heard the creak of Percy's chair. She felt the bed shift as he laid next to her. She rolled on her back to give him more room but he scooted with her, much to her annoyance. It wasn't like she didn't want to cuddle with him, but she was still so hot and Percy gave off enough body heat to make even Leo jealous.