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.

"I thought I was too sweaty for you?"

"I was just joking, Annabeth." He sounded a little apologetic. "I didn't mean to upset you."

She grunted, turning her head to look at him. "I know, Seaweed Brain. I'm not mad at you. You were right, I'm just grumpy." Then she lightly kicked him in the shin. "But you were being kind of a jackass."

"How can I ever make it up to you?" he asked sarcastically, reaching a hand up to play with her hair. "But seriously," he said as his fingertips traced her scalp, "how are the other girls even surviving if you're so worn out?"

"I mean, four of them threw up, but honestly I don't feel like I'm holding up better than them."

"No way. You just don't have any of that adrenaline you're used to." Annabeth shrugged in agreement. "You also don't have your trusty boyfriend alongside you." At that she laughed, shuffling to lay against him, hooking an arm around his shoulders.

"That must be it."

Their conversation stopped and Annabeth was sure she would be able to fall asleep now, her head on Percy's chest with his hands gently rubbing her back, but no. She was still so freaking hot and sweaty. She huffed, sitting up and startling Percy. She yanked her t-shirt off over her head and tossed it to the floor, wishing she could take off her sticky sportsbra too, but that didn't seem like a great option at the moment. Feeling irritable and bit irrational, she made sure to put as much space on the bed between herself and her boyfriend as possible, a last desperate attempt to cool down.

"Percy," she whined, looking over at him. He looked somewhere between confused, surprised, and awkward. For a second, that made her forget about her aching body.  But she still felt ridiculous. "Do you think I'm out of shape?"

In response, Percy made it very obvious that he was checking her out. "Hm... no, that can't be it. Everything looks perfect to me." He shot her a crooked smile. Curse her flirtatious boyfriend, now she was blushing too.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to say next, but thankfully she was spared the comment.

"Hey, Percy," Sally called down the hallway. "Will you help Paul carry in the groceries?"

"I'm going to shower while you do that," Annabeth said and tried to get off the bed, but it ended up more of a roll off the side, and she crumpled to the floor and stayed there. "Or not."

Percy's feet landed next to her and he bent over, grabbing her hips and gently hauling her up. He encompassed her in a hug, kissed her on the top of her head, and joked, "Go on, you're starting to stink."

"Yeah, yeah."

*****

A few days later, Annabeth no longer felt like her limbs had stopped working, but what she was feeling was almost worse: tight and stiff muscles. Thankfully, it was Friday night and Saturday morning's practice was cancelled, so she'd have a couple of days off.

"You look like an old woman," Percy commented from his place on the couch. "Hobbling around and all."

"Shut up." She collapsed next to him, legs thrown over his lap and head against the armrest. "My hamstrings feel like they're tearing." He rolled his eyes playfully and reached for the remote.

"Movie?"

"Sure," she replied, but she knew that neither of them really wanted to watch a movie. Sally and Paul were out for the evening, and Percy and Annabeth hardly ever got quality alone time.

"Stop me when you see one you like," he said, surfing through titles.

"Mhm." But she wasn't looking at the TV. She was studying the way the light from the window caught his green eyes and glared off his hair. She was very aware of his unoccupied hand that was absently tracing circles against her thigh. "Percy?"

"Yeah?" He glanced down at her.

Before Annabeth could register what was happening, Percy picked her legs up, placed them on either side of him, and hovered over her for a kiss.

Oh, she thought after awhile, this is way better than watching a movie.

Eventually they swapped positions, Percy laying down and Annabeth straddling his hips. His hands were on her waist, but one traveled down to her legs. He gripped the back of her thigh and she couldn't help but wince. Of course, Percy-the-attentive-and-caring-boyfriend noticed her discomfort and drew away quickly. "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong? I'm-"

But Annabeth cut him off with short kiss. "You're fine, Seaweed Brain." She smiled at him lovingly, and maybe a bit embarrassed, too. "Sore hamstrings, remember?"

Percy shook his head and laughed. "Gods, Wise Girl, you're going to be the death of me." Apparently he decided that their make-out was over, because he sat them up and moved her off his lap. Annabeth opened her mouth to suggest a movie, for real this time, but Percy beat her to an offer instead.

"Would you like a massage?" He sounded serious and he didn't look like he was joking. But still, Annabeth was hesitant. Sure, he gave her back-rubs all the time, but a whole massage? Sounded too good to be true.

"Are sure you're not just going to make funny of my elderly body?"

"Promise I won't."

She flipped onto her stomach and almost immediately felt his hands on the back of her legs. She let him rub out the stiffness for a while, he was pretty damn good at it, but decided that there were other muscles that needed attention, too.

"You know, Percy, we've been doing full body workouts."

"Yeah?" She knew he was smirking.

"And lots of squats."

"Oh, I bet."

"They make me pretty sore."

"Annabeth, are you trying to ask me for a butt massage?"

"Well, if you're offering."

*****

Annabeth stood in front of the bathroom mirror, taking in every aspect of the reflection. She felt a bit... exposed in her new volleyball uniform. The spandex shorts were practically nonexistent and the jersey, while it covered a lot, was skin tight. And the color white. Who in their right mind would make these white?

She took a deep breath. Annabeth wasn't the insecure type and knew that the uniform didn't really look bad. Regardless, she was suddenly thankful for the relentless conditioning leading up to game season.

"Annabeth," Percy whined from somewhere on the other side of the door, "are you dressed yet? I want to see your uniform."

"You already saw it, Seaweed Brain. I showed you when I brought it home."

"That doesn't count! I want to see you wearing the uniform."

She rolled her eyes with a smile, opening the door. "Look good?"

She spun around a few times for him, trying to ignore the dorky look on his face. She never stopped being frustrated with how easy he could flatter her. "Close your mouth, Perseus, you're drooling."

He blushed a bit but quickly recovered. "Uh yeah, looks good."

"I could do without the white, though." Annabeth pulled uncomfortable at the fabric around her chest.

"Why? I like it, it'll look good on the court."

Maybe that was true, but Annabeth couldn't help but tease her boyfriend for a moment. "You only like it because you can see through to my bra!"

"What? I can't even see your bra... well, now I can but only because you made me look!"

She laughed and Percy gave her his trademark, troublemaker grin. She flung her arms around his neck and pressed close to him. "Hey, now we've gotta make a deal."

"And what would that be?" he asked, but he leaned down towards her lips. She moved backwards just slightly and he sighed, defeated. "Okay, what deal?"

"I modeled my uniform for you, so you'll have to model your uniform for me."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't have one, Wise Girl."

"But you will this winter for swim season."

"I mean, I guess, but that's not very exciting. Just shorts."

"No, no, Percy. I'm pretty sure the swim team wears Speedos."

His eyes grew comically wide. "You're joking. You're totally joking with me."

"I'm not!"

"Well, I'm not wearing it. Yeah, no, definitely not wearing it." He shook his head to emphasize his point.

"Fine," Annabeth relented. She ran a hand down his back and rested it on the point where his Achilles heel used to be. "But you at least have to try it on."

"Nope."

"Please? For me?" She used her best pleading eyes and lightly traced her fingers on his back. She could see his resolve crumble.

"Yeah, yeah. Just for you."

Annabeth smiled, pulling Percy down for a kiss.