Chapter X:

i think you're ready for love's embrace

Percy wasn't particularly fond of grocery shopping. He wasn't a fan of shopping in general. His mom had basically done it all for him his entire life. But Piper wanted to bake a lemon pie, so there they were. In the grocery store. Wooo.

But the way grocery stores were designed usually made you leave with more stuff than you planned on getting. Same could be said for furniture places like IKEA, which was basically the modern version of the Greek Labyrinth. You could get lost for hours in there with no hope of escape, and be forced to eat Swedish meatballs to survive.

"Oooh, Cocoa Puffs." Piper beamed as she placed the box into the cart, right next to the bag of grapes that she had picked up for literally no reason. "My favorite."

Percy squinted at the label on the side and let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of sugar."

"Relax, I'm going to crush it up and use it for the crust." She chided as she hopped on the front of the cart, and spread her arms out wide pretending to be Rose from the Titanic. There was no way that he was going to pretend to be her Jack. The movie was dumb anyways, they could have both easily survived.

Percy figured that while they were there, he might as well restock on Honey Nut Cheerios. Estelle was plowing through the boxes like a machine.

Piper stopped them in the dairy section, and started to grab the actual ingredients for the pie. He had never heard of condensed milk before. He didn't know the difference between regular granulated and brown sugar either, besides the color. She slapped Percy away from her when he playfully tried to wrap his arms around her neck.

"Damn, Sunshine, does domestic violence have to be your answer for everything?" He grumbled while faking injury, which only resulted in another disciplinary slap. "I guess so…"

-Ω-

Sally Jackson came home to the smell of burning bread, the sounds of clattering metal and running water did nothing to calm her down. Neither did the wails of a crying toddler. She made straight towards the source. The kitchen. Her kitchen.

She quickly deposited her work bag on the living room couch, but kept the apron because God knew she was going to need it.

The moment she stepped inside her hal—once hallowed grounds, the bickering immediately turned to silence.

Sally took a protracted moment to survey the entire situation. Piper was planted firmly in the back corner, with her hands massaging her wrinkled brow. Estelle, her beloved daughter, was laying on the counter half-naked, covered in breakfast cereal. And of course, her firstborn son was in the middle of it all, with the most burnt pie she had ever seen resting in his hands.

Estelle was the first to break the silence. "Mama!"

"Hey sweetie." She said as she embraced her daughter, even if she was absolutely disgusting. "What are you doing here?"

"Pie!" Estelle squealed as she opened her hands, unleashing a volley of Honey Nut Cheerios onto the floor. "Piper!"

"I can see that." Sally said with raised eyebrows. "What did you two lovebirds do?"

Both teenager's faces lit up like Christmas trees at her statement, giving each other sideways glances. It was adorable. She had never seen Percy so in love before. She wished that she could've taken a picture and framed it.

"We were baking a lemon pie." Percy explained by waving his hand over their creation. "But uh...things didn't work out the way we wanted it too."

Even though Percy wasn't the best cook, he certainly wasn't the worst in the family. Paul was practically blind and deaf when it came to trying to operate the kitchen, which was something that she really had to work on.

"Sorry about the mess Mrs. Jackson." Piper said sheepishly. "We didn't know what we were doing."

Did Sally care? Not at all. She was just happy that they were all happy. And that's all that mattered. The mess was temporary. The memory was forever.

"What do you think, Estelle? What should I do about this?" She asked her big baby while bopping her nose.

Instead of answering with words, Estelle gave her a small little burp that made everybody in the room smile.

"I think she said that we're ok." Her son suggested bravely, holding two thumbs up.

"Don't push you luck, Perseus."

-Ω-

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the week?" Piper asked Percy as the two of them walked back to her house, both of their stomachs full with lemon pie (compliments of Sally).

They had opted to take the long way, going through the entire boardwalk and making a quick pit-stop at the beach. It was a hotter night than normal, making their skin stick to the inside of their clothes. But the atmosphere was amazing, and the smell of grilled pineapple was fantastic.

"Not that I know of, I just got work in the mornings until Saturday." Percy answered as he launched a piece of loose gravel into orbit with the tip of his shoe. "Why? You got something you want to do?"

Piper wrapped her arm inside the crook of his elbow as they made the final turn on to her street. The luminous beams that sprouted from the yards of the various mansions were absolutely captivating. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Could you be anymore vague?"

"Don't rush me."

"That didn't even make sense."

They stopped behind the hedge again, hiding from the guard in the booth, a mirror image from their first night together.

Piper grabbed his cheek to his utter dislike and tugged on it. "Thanks for walking me home again, loser."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He gave her a quick peck on her forehead. "Night, Sunshine."

"Bye, bubby."

Percy watched her from behind the fence, making sure that she made it into the garage before turning around with a slight blush on his face.

Author's Note:

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know it's short. Enjoy the Sally POV. Thank you for all the awesome feedback on the last chapter. College starts up again next week so I'll probably be dropping off the map again soon lol. Tbh I'll probably be more active on AO3 than on here during the semester, but I don't really do PJO on that account. Peace and love.

Disclaimer: Lyrics are from Swae Lee's 'Sextasy.'