A/N: If you've been reading my other story, you'll know that I've got a lot of stories from a long time ago that I'm posting now and this is one of them. I will be posting current work soon but I'm getting through the backlog first. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything by Rick Riordan.


Paul nervously checked his watch as he'd done every minute since he'd left the house. Of course, he had plenty of time, but today was an important day. Today was the day he would meet Sally's son.

At exactly 7 'o clock, Paul rung the doorbell and was greeted by Sally. He stepped inside, looking around for Percy. What he saw surprised him. He had heard two conflicting stories of Percy. One was his record: expelled from every school he'd been to. But Sally always talked about these as unlucky incidents, nothing too bad. She always said he was a sweet boy and to be honest, Paul didn't see how that fit with his record. But the boy in front of him seemed normal and perfectly polite.

Percy held out his hand for a handshake and said, "Pleasure to meet you Mr Blowfish - Blofis." He corrected himself after a reproving look from his mother. Sally smiled apologetically at Paul.

Reaching out to shake Percy's hand Paul replied, "Don't worry, I like Blowfish too. But you can call me Paul. Nice to meet you Percy."

Sally seemed glad that the first introduction had gone well and enthusiastically invited, "Please sit down, I'll bring in some snacks."

The two men sat down as Sally disappeared into the kitchen.

"So Paul," Percy began. "You're an English teacher?"

He said it casually enough, but Paul knew what this was: the interrogation.

"Yeah," he replied. "I teach at Goode High School. Do you like school Percy?"

As soon as he said it, Paul realised his mistake. He expected Percy to shut down or get mad, but Percy just laughed it off.

"Not particularly. Never managed to stay in one for too long and the dyslexia and ADHD don't do me any favours. Particularly with English actually."

"So do you have a favourite subject then?"

"Uhhh - I suppose I don't hate Ancient Greek too much. It's the only subject I make decent grades in."

He smiled as if there was an inside joke there. Paul internally sighed with relief. He'd had an interest in Ancient Greece since he was a teenager and was glad that there was something he could talk to Percy about.

"Ah yes! The mythology, I suppose. Quite fascinating what Greeks can come up with to explain Science. Do you have a favourite god?"

Percy smiles and replied without hesitation, "Poseidon. I just love the sea."

"Me too. What about the heroes?"

Percy hesitated a lot more on that.

"I suppose - Perseus, my namesake," he finally answered.

"Perseus, huh? I'm surprised most people pick Heracles, or Hercules as they call him."

Percy's face hardened, "I don't think he deserves to be called a hero. He hurt a lot of people, including - well, a lot of people. Perseus did much better, but I don't really like any of the ancient heroes. My mom named me after him just because he had good luck in the end and she hoped I would too. Doesn't seem to be working out so well for me."

He added the last part under his breath, almost to himself. Paul was at a loss for how to comfort him.

"The Ancient Greek heroes never really had good luck anyways. Even Perseus went through a lot of pain until he got his happy ending. Whether you're fighting literal or figurative monsters, things will work out in the end, like they did for him."

Percy smiled, "Thanks Paul."

Just then, Sally appeared from the kitchen. "All ok?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah, mom," Percy replied. "We're having a great time. Paul seems like a good guy."

Paul could not have looked more relieved to be approved of by Percy.


Paul could hear the sound of raised voices even from outside the door. Wondering what could be going on, he rung the doorbell. At once the voices subsided and the door was opened by Sally. She seemed to have just gotten up from the dining table which was strewn with papers and names circled in red pen. Still sitting on the table, poring through the papers was Sally's son Percy. His messy black hair looked dishevelled, as if he'd been running his hands through them in frustration. Sally wasn't looking much better. Even though she tried to smile, Paul could see the worry in her eyes.

"Hi Sally, Percy," he greeted.

Sally replied with a hello, but Percy, absorbed in what he was doing just gave a nod. That made Paul wonder even more what he could possibly be so busy with, but he was almost too afraid to ask. Luckily, he had his answer soon enough from Percy. The young boy sighed and leaned back on his chair.

"It's no use!" he exclaimed. "They've all of heard of me!"

"We'll find something," Sally hopefully consoled him. "I'm sure there's someone who'll take a second look at your record."

Turning to Paul, she explained, "We're looking for schools. For Percy. He got expelled again."

Paul couldn't believe how matter-of-fact Sally was with her son being expelled. He supposed she was used to it by now.

"Except they've all heard of me probably," Percy muttered bitterly. "I always cause trouble wherever I go. It's no wonder that they won't take me."

"Someone will," Sally firmly told him. "We just have to find the right school."

Paul admired her optimism, but it was clear that things looked very bleak for Percy. He had met the boy so he knew that Percy really was a good kid, but, looking at his record, it was hard to see that. Paul was honestly astounded by Percy's record, but for some reason, he believed him that it wasn't his fault. That the circumstances were out of his control. Maybe the first couple of times something did happen, but it was possible that Percy was just in the wrong place the wrong time and he was blamed for his record.

Before he could stop himself, Paul found himself blurting out, "He can come to Goode."

Instead of looking relieved, Percy and Sally just looked more wary.

"I - I don't think that's a good idea," Percy evasively said.

"Yeah, Paul. We'll find somewhere else," Sally agreed.

"Why?" Paul asked. "Goode's a great school and I can convince them - "

"No, it's not that," Percy cut in. "I'm sure Goode's brilliant, but it's just - I blow up every school I go to. Somehow, I manage to mess up and I've come to terms with that. I just don't want it to reflect badly on you."

"You won't," Paul insisted. "This time it'll be different, Percy. Really."

The mother and son seemed to have a silent conversation until Percy finally relented, "Fine. But I'm warning you Paul, this is a bad idea."

How bad could it be? Paul thought. He didn't know how many strings he'd have to pull to get Percy into Goode and how many more to keep him there.


It had been one crazy summer. First there was the Goode orientation day, which had escalated a lot. He knew Percy said that he blew up every school he went to, but he didn't believe it would happen so fast. Still, it was clear that it wasn't Percy who'd done it and Paul had managed to keep his place at the school. Then came the Mt. St. Helen's eruption which had devastated a large portion of the country. Shortly after that, Sally had a call from Percy's summer camp that he'd been on a field trip near the mountain and was missing, presumed dead. The next two weeks were utter agony for Sally and not too great for Paul either, but then she received another call that he'd been found and he was okay. She sobbed with relief, but she didn't give Paul too many details. After his near-death experience, he expected Percy to come home, but Sally said that he was going to stay at his camp.

Now, finally he had come home to celebrate his 15th birthday. Strangely, unlike most teenagers, Percy almost seemed to dread his birthday, dread getting older. Paul could see a haunted look in his eyes and wondered whether more had happened over the summer than I had thought. What had forced Percy to grow up so quickly? Another strange thing was the looks that Sally and Percy gave each other when the other wasn't looking. Almost as if they knew that they had very little time left together. Paul shook his head. That was impossible. He was reading too much into this. That was not even why he should be nervous tonight.

He saw Percy walk into the kitchen. It was now or never. Under the pretext of getting some more food, he joined Percy.

"Hey," he greeted. "Look, I know you've had a rough summer. And... girl problems?"

Percy's look of surprise showed that Paul was completely correct. Teenagers are meant to be mysterious, but when you work with them everyday, they become a bit more readable.

"Anyways," Paul continued. "I just wanted to let you know I'm here to talk whenever you need it."

Percy smiled, "Thanks Paul."

"Also," Paul took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you about something else. I want to propose to your mom."

Paul braced himself for the rejection, but Percy just seemed shocked.

"You're asking my permission?"

"Not really. But it's your mother. So I wanted to talk to you. Man-to-man."

"Paul I think it's a brilliant idea!"

"You do?"

"Yeah!"

Paul's face broke into a smile. Percy had accepted him. Now all that was left was Sally and he could worry about that another day. Nothing could put a damper over this evening, he thought as he played Monopoly with Tyson.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Sally opened it and her mouth dropped open.

"Pos - ?" she began. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad?" Percy asked, shocked. Ah, that's who it was. Paul finally understood Sally's look of shock.

"Daddy!" Tyson cried, even more shockingly.

"Not mine," Sally confirmed quietly to Paul.

The man then turned to Paul and held out his hand for a handshake.

"Paul Blofis," Paul introduced himself, trying to remain cool.

"Blowfish?" Poseidon asked. Like father like son.

"No, Blofis."

"Ah shame. I quite like blowfish. I'm Poseidon."

"Like the Greek god?" Paul asked, realising where Percy's interest in mythology came from.

"Exactly," he smiled, as if it were an inside joke. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to talk to Percy."

Percy and Poseidon disappeared into Percy's bedroom while Paul turned back to his game of Monopoly. A few minutes later, after losing spectacularly to Tyson again, Percy emerged from his room, but not with his father. Instead, a boy who looked around 11 or 12 walked in with him. The boy seemed very shy because he tried to hide behind Percy and it felt as if he were going to blend into the shadows. His onyx eyes seemed to hold a lot of pain and they swept around the room, looking at the scene longingly. Paul wondered what could have caused the haunted look in his eyes, but right now, he had more important questions.

"Percy, who's this?" Sally asked, taking the words out of Paul's mouth.

Unlike him, she seemed unperturbed by his sudden appearance, but very concerned about the bedraggled state he was in.

"This is Nico. My cousin," Percy explained. "On my dad's side. He came in through the fire escape. Kinda a joke with my dad's side of the family," he hastily added, seeing Paul's confused expression.

Paul's mind was still bursting with questions. Why would the kid come up the fire escape instead of just using the normal route? Where was Poseidon? Did he go down the fire escape too? Something seemed odd about the situation, but Paul couldn't put my finger on what was wrong. There was no point in dwelling on this, though. He decided to accept Percy's story. It's not like they could just appear and disappear out of nowhere.


"Yes!" Sally exclaimed. "Yes I will marry you!"

Paul's worried face broke into a smile and they reached up to hug.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Percy said and Paul couldn't agree more.

Now that the hard part was over, he finally felt like he could breathe. They continued the evening as planned, ordering pizza and watching the Disney movie Hercules. The whole time, Percy kept pointing out the faults in the movie and every single way they deviated from Greek mythology. Even things like, "Hades doesn't act like that," or "Hercules wasn't that nice." He was very dedicated. Finally, I quickly excused myself to go to the bathroom and when I came back, I almost walked into a very odd conversation.

"-have to tell him," Sally was saying in a hushed tone. "If he's going to become part of the family, he needs to know."

"But I can't," Percy protested. "I don't want to ruin anything. What if he doesn't want to be part of our family after he finds out? Not that I would blame him," he muttered.

"Of course he won't Percy! Besides, it's better if he finds out now rather than later that you're a-" Just then, Sally caught sight of Paul and cut herself off.

"What's going on?" Paul asked, slightly apprehensively. Percy and Sally had a silent contest and Sally finally won.

"Fine," Percy backed down. "You're going to think we're crazy, but I suppose you need to know." He took a deep breath. "The Greek myths are real."

"What?" Paul laughed. "Percy if you don't want to tell me the truth then that's fine. You don't need to feed me stories."

"I'm not lying Paul. They're real. And they're in America. And I'm a demigod. Son of Poseidon."

"Alright, Percy, I know you're dad's called Poseidon, but that doesn't mean-"

"See mom? I told you he wouldn't believe us!"

"Percy! It's just hard to digest," Sally intervened. "But it's true Paul. Percy's dad is the god of the sea."

"Sally come on! Whatever lies he's told you-"

"Look, I'll prove it, ok?" Percy walked over to the sink and brought over a glass of water.

He placed it in front of Paul and slowly the water in the glass began to rise. He controlled it to hover in a ball above the glass and then began making intricate shapes swirling around in the air. Paul's eyes seemed like they were about to bulge out of his head.

"H-how?"

"Keep watching," Percy continued manipulating the water and brought it towards himself until it was hovering in a ball above his head. Then, he let go.

"Touch my jumper," Percy ordered. Paul cautiously reached forward with trembling hands, expecting it to be soaking wet, but it was completely dry.

"That has to be some sort of trick! There's no way - it's just-"

Percy sighed. "Ok, I have one more trick up my sleeve." He walked over to the window and whistled a New York cab whistle. Nothing happened for a second, but soon, a large black shape came hurtling towards the apartment. As it grew closer, Paul could see it looked like...

"Is that a flying horse?"

The horse nickered angrily. "Relax Balckjack, he doesn't know," Percy soothed him. He nickered again. "No, but maybe later if you act nicely."

"Are you speaking to the horse?" Paul asked incredulously.

"Yes and Blackjack would like to inform you that he is pegasus, not just any horse," Percy corrected Paul. "Believe me now?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes. I mean, there's no other way that this," Paul gestured at Blackjack, "would be possible."

Percy just smiled and spoke a few more words to Blackjack before sending him back to wherever he was from.

"So when I met your dad on your birthday, I was meeting a god?"

"Yup."

"And they way he and Nico came from the fire escape..."

"He just disappeared, but Nico, who's a son of Hades, used shadow-travel."

"And when you blew up Goode..."

"Empousai."

"Oh god!"

"Gods," Percy corrected.

Paul just put his head in his hands.

"I know this is hard to digest," Sally comforted. "Take as much time as you need. We can leave if you want."

"No, no. I want to know more."

Percy and Sally spent the next hour explaining all of Percy's quests and telling the unedited truth about each time he was expelled.

"It just sounds so unbelievable. But for some reason, it makes sense," Paul said as Percy sighed with relief.

"So you believe us?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I don't know why, but I do."

"Like we said, this is a lot to take in and it's not exactly easy to deal with it. I'd get if - if you wanted to back out," Sally promised anxiously.

"What? Of course not! This doesn't change anything," Paul replied adamantly. "You're still Percy and Sally. I always knew you were a bit of a trouble kid Percy, but at least there's a reason for that now and I respect you even more for it. And Sally, you've been so brave as well dealing with all of this, how could I say this changes anything?"

"It's not going to be easy for you either Paul," Percy warned.

"I'm okay with that. After all, when is family easy?"