Paul Blofis was not sure what to make of Percy Jackson when he first met the boy. On paper, the boy sounded like a horrific nightmare. A dyslexic, ADHD child who had never managed to remain in a single school for an entire year, a history with the police and a suspicious trail of destroyed buildings and explosions.

Needless to say he was very surprised when he met the boy. He had come home from his 'summer camp' a week or two before school was due to start. Paul was at Sally's apartment and opened the door to reveal a tall tanned boy with intense sea green eyes, regal features that did not belong to Sally and messy black curls which were marred by a streak of grey on one side. Paul assumed that he must have dyed it. It was becoming popular with the young people these days. He wore an orange shirt emblazoned with strange symbols and blue jeans. He had an iPod in his jacket pocket and one earphone plugged in. There was an odd look in his eyes, a look that told Paul he had seen too much for one so young.

Percy had blinked at him when he answered the door but then appeared to recognise him and smirked cheekily. He had glanced behind Paul and asked in a strange yet faint accent which hinted at English not being the only language he spoke, "My mum home?" Paul could only nod a little baffled at the appearance a relatively normal teenage boy as opposed to the juvenile delinquent he had been envisaging. "Good." Percy had stepped close to him and hissed in a deadly whisper. "You hurt her you'll wish you had never laid eyes upon her." Paul blinked as Percy pushed past him, a smile on his face in the search for his mother.

That was unexpected.

Paul was suddenly not so sure that Perseus Jackson was not a dangerous delinquent.

Paul had never met a boy so devoted to his mother as Percy was. It was nice to see a teenage boy who so openly loved his mother. Paul never forgot the threat Percy had given him on their first meeting and as he got closer and closer to the Jacksons. He began to think that perhaps that Percy was perfectly capable of carrying out that threat. He had blown up the band room at Paul's school and then run off. He had not returned for the rest of the summer either and Sally had not appeared all that surprised, just a little worried.

For Percy's fifteenth birthday, Sally threw a small party full of blue food. A knock at the door had interrupted the celebrations and Sally opened the door to reveal a man who looked a lot like an older Percy. Sally went bright red and Percy smiled happily.

Paul didn't like the man.

Paul didn't fully believe that Percy's father, Poseidon, had left by the fire escape but that was the only plausible explanation so Paul went along with it. He started second guessing this logic when he arrived home and approached the kitchen to hear Percy and Sally conversing in frantic whispers.

"We need to tell him soon."

"I know mum. How do you want to do it?"

"We can just tell him."

Do you think he'll believe it just like that?"

"We need to tell him the truth Percy."

"I know. Maybe I can give him a demonstration."

Paul entered the kitchen and his fiancé and soon-to-be-stepson stopped talking and turned to him with guilty expressions.

They exchanged glances but finally Percy looked back at Paul. "What do you know about Greek Mythology?"

OOOOOOOOOO

His mind was reeling. Greek gods. Demigods. Monsters. It was too much. He shook his head, a frown on his face as he twisted his hands together on the table. Percy saw his face and scowled. "Of course. You don't believe us." he stood, his chair scraping angrily on the tiles of the kitchen. Percy looked at his mother and then back to Paul. "I knew he would be just the same as everyone else. Just another ignorant mortal." He stormed out of the door, slamming the door loudly behind him, Paul flinched both at the loud bang and the harsh tone of Percy's words.

Sally placed a small hand over Paul's and lifted his chin with the other. There was no reproach in her kind rainbow eyes. There was understanding and pity, rather than the anger and disbelief that had been in Percy's ocean eyes.

"I know it is hard to believe and I know that it is a lot to take in." Sally began in her beautiful voice, looking into his own, plain brown eyes. "But it was easier for me. As a child I saw things. Monsters, gods, abnormal things. Things I didn't want to believe. I thought it would go away when I got older, that it was all my imagination. It didn't go away. When I met Poseidon he told me about it. I can see through what they call the Mist."

Paul looked deep into his fiancé's eyes and nodded slowly. He knew she would never lie. As long as he knew her she had never ever lied. He knew she wouldn't lie to him. She smiled softly. "Percy is like his father, like the sea. He is usually calm and kind but he can also be angry and rough. He doesn't hate you. He just wanted someone to act like a father for him. The gods are not allowed to interfere in mortal lives, not even for their children." she looked down, her beautiful eyes watering. "I know Poseidon wants to and he has. Poseidon was never an obedient god and his son is just like him. He has always yearned for a father. Gabe could never be that and I would never allow it."

She kissed him swiftly. "You have been the closest he has ever had and for him this is a betrayal. He just told you the biggest secret he has ever had and you don't believe him. Go find him." Paul looked at her desperately and she smiled. "You know where he is. Off you go."

Paul stood and followed Percy's path out the door and down the stairs to the lobby. He located his car in the building parking lot and sat in the drivers seat, hands gripping the wheel, eyes screwed shut in concentration. Where could Percy go?

"The sea does not like to be restrained." A soft voice said from beside him. Paul jumped, his head whipping around to see the man who had come to Sally's apartment for Percy's birthday. Paul openly stared at the man who Sally and Percy both claimed to be a Greek god and who looked like Percy's older twin. He turned and smiled at Paul. "I told this to Percy when he was twelve. The sea does not like to be restrained." he sighed and turned back to watching the rain pound on the windscreen. "We gods are not allowed to interfere much with the affairs of mortals. Especially with our own children. And it hurts." he turned back to Paul, fixing him with the same ocean eyes as Percy. "You cannot comprehend how hard it is for us to watch over our children from above, watch them learn, watch them fight," he paused. "Watch them die." he whispered. "I am known as the most rebellious of the gods. I see my children in person as much as I am able and always let them know I love them but that makes it so much more difficult to say goodbye."

Paul looked away from those eyes, so full of pain and suffering and whispered, "I don't know what to do. I am willing to believe in the gods and monsters but I don't know what to do."

Poseidon smiled. "Percy has learned to depend on you since you began courting his mother. He has never had a father figure in his life and as much as I wish it were I, you are filling that space."

Paul gaped. "Me? But why?"

Poseidon sighed again. "We take oaths seriously. Normally one would swear on the River Styx but for we immortals that oath is not fully binding. When my brothers and I swore on the Styx to have no more demigod children we all knew that it probably wouldn't last but we swore anyway. We ourselves were not affected but our children were. When I told Sally I would have to leave I offered to help her get a good life but she told me to let her live her own life." he chuckled lightly. "I swore on the Styx. I didn't like it, leaving her alone, but I swore. She said 'No. you swore on the Styx to never have a child with a mortal woman, and yet you have. I want you to swear on our child's life.' And I did. I kept my promise. I watched but didn't interfere." he sighed heavily. "Have you heard about Gabriel Ugliano?"

Paul frowned. "Sally wont talk about him much but whenever Percy mentions him he alternates between like he wants to laugh and strangle someone."

Poseidon growled. "He was Sally's first husband. She married him, a disgusting, filthy mortal to hide Percy's scent underneath his horrible smell. When Percy was at school the bastard would hit Sally." Poseidon growled and clenched his fists. "I wanted so desperately to send him to my elder brother but I had sworn on my child's life not to interfere and I have seen too many of my children die prematurely.

"Go find Perseus and tell him what you feel. I love my son, I really do, but my brother does not understand. He has a daughter and she is neglected. My elder brother had two young children in the forties. He managed to spend a few years with them before Zeus blasted apart the hotel where they were staying with their mother. The mother died but my brother managed to save his children and hide them in a secure location where time is slow. I couldn't risk anything happening to my son. My Perseus. Nor Sally. I couldn't bear it. Go find him. He will listen, he is too much like me and I could never resist my own curiosity." With a last smile the god of the sea dissolved into a soft sea breeze and Paul was alone in his car once more.

OOOOOOOOOO

Poseidon and Sally were right. Paul did know where Percy was. Although how he had managed to break into the Goode High School pool without setting off any alarms was beyond him. Paul looked around the chlorine scented room but couldn't see Percy anywhere. Then he saw a pair of shoes and a jacket lying in the stands. Paul approached the water and looked down. He wasn't exactly sure what he could see. He supposed it was the… what did they call it?...Mist? Paul made a stupendous effort to look harder, to see what his mind was telling him wasn't there.

He finally did it and saw Percy, sitting cross-legged, fully clothed on the bottom of the pool, his hands outstretched and the water twisting and twirling about his fingers. Paul watched the miraculous manipulations of the water and Percy's normal breathing underwater for a few more minutes before tapping lightly on the surface of the water. Percy looked up, his face impassive as he stared at Paul through the rippling water. He sighed and allowed his body to float to the surface where he starfished on his back, floating in the middle of the pool.

"What do you want Paul?" He asked with a resigned sigh.

Paul flinched slightly at the tone but didn't let it stop him. "To apologise. I believe you. And I'm sorry about before."

Percy looked over at him, a surprised look on his face. Then he smiled, the same sort of smile that Poseidon had given, apparently unconsciously as he spoke of Percy. And Paul knew then , in that moment that everything would be ok.

OOOOOOOOOO

This story kinda came out of the blue. I'm not really sure what I think of it, but hey, you can tell me what you think.