Chapter 5: I Meet the Percy Jackson

(Peter)

As I left the Hermes cabin, I quickly looked around and I was glad I did because I saw a familiar head of hair. Percy Jackson! It had to be and he wasn't anywhere near the arena. Instead, he was heading east towards Canoe Lake.

My gods, I couldn't believe this was happening! I was going to meet Percy Jackson!

I ran after him. Percy Jackson stopped at the lake shore. He shrugged off his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Then he jumped into the water with a splash. I got to the shore moments later, but I hesitated.

I was a good swimmer. I was part of the swim team at my school and had won my fair share of races. But still, I preferred warm water and the lake was bound to be freezing. I considered running after him along the river bank that led to the ocean, but what if I lost him? I was a much faster swimmer than a runner.

God Damn it.

I was just standing here as my childhood idol was getting away from me. I jerked off my shirt, socks and shoes.[1] Then I jumped in after Percy Jackson.

Freezing didn't even cover it. It was cold as balls. I felt my body seize up as I sank into the water. I was numb by the time I struggled to the surface. With a gasp, I began swimming towards Percy Jackson in earnest.

Percy Jackson swam like a fucking fish. It took everything I had to just keep up. He swam all the way to the Long Beach Sound. I was relieved when he finally stopped and turned around. Our eyes met and then he dove under the water again.

I nearly choked as I groaned in frustration. But luckily, Percy Jackson was now making his way to the beach. When he got out, he waved, and I forced myself to move.

An eternity later, I was out of the water. My muscles immediately began to ache. I felt cold and tingly, like when your foot falls asleep and you try to wake it up. I swear that feeling is worse than actual pain.

But it was all worth it because I was standing in front of the Percy Jackson. I smiled and said, "Hey."

"Hey," he said with interest. Percy Jackson was interested in meeting me! "You're the new kid, right? Son of Poseidon? I heard some campers talking about it."

"Yeah, I guess that's me," I said. My expression soured a bit. I wasn't supposed to be the son of Poseidon. He was.

He stuck out his hand, "I'm Percy."

I shook his hand. I actually shook Percy Jackson's hand.

Fuck yes!

I maybe shook it a little too much, because after a bit, he pulled his hand out of my grasp with noticeable effort.

"So," he said, "What's your name?"

"Peter Johnson,"

"Oh? That's um…"

"What Mr. D calls you sometimes. I know."

Percy Jackson stared at me. I realized how crazy that sounded. I was acting like an idiot. I tried to play it off. "I mean, he's always messing up people's names, right?"

"Yeah…" he said slowly, "Have we met before?"

I shook my head. I wish.

"You look…" his eyebrows came together. "You look like me."

I beamed. "I know right?"

Now Percy Jackson was full-on frowning at me. I had officially creeped him out. Fuck.

"Uh...Peter," he said.

I focused on him. These next moments were crucial. He asked, "Do you know something that I should know?"

I opened my mouth but stopped. I'd already fucked up twice. I needed to think. But how could I think with Percy Jackson standing there just how I always imagined him. Well, he was actually taller than I expected, but still. The messy hair, olive skin and sea green eyes were all like mine. This was the Percy Jackson.

"Peter?" he said again.

"Oh right, um…Mary... I mean Andi said you were in the Hermes cabin."

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm not a son of Hermes though, if that's what you're asking." His face twisted into something dark. "I'm unclaimed."

"Oh," I said, feeling dumb. Of course, he was unclaimed. We were in a fanfic land and from the way that Mary Sue had talked about him, it was clear Percy Jackson was some sort of minor character.

"Why?" he said. "Do you know who my father is? Are you secretly my brother or something?"

Me? Brothers with Percy Jackson? I struggled not to smile like a complete idiot. I had had that daydream before. Way too many times.

Percy Jackson's frown deepened.

I swallowed and laughed nervously. "Sorry, it's hard to explain, but…"

To my immense relief, his face cleared, "Oh! I get it now. There's a prophecy, right? About me?"

"Uh…" he wasn't incorrect, but…

Percy Jackson added, "Luke explained this type of thing to me. You don't have to say anything else."

"Luke?"

"Yeah, he's a son of Apollo.[2] He's a really cool guy, but he's gone missing. He didn't come back from his last mission. A lot of us miss him. It was hard losing him especially with Annabeth being gone too." Percy Jackson shook his head.

I just stared at him. I had no idea what he was talking about. The timeline in this fic was all fucked up. I was here seemingly standing in for Percy Jackson as the son of Poseidon, while the Sue, judging by her stupid name, replaced Thalia. And Thalia. Wait a second. Thalia.

"Hey…um…Percy," I had to bite down to not say his last name. "Do you know who Thalia Grace is?"

Percy Jackson made a face. "Yeah, she's the head counselor of the Ares cabin. I saw her heading to the arena earlier. That's actually why I decided on a swim this morning. She's…well…most Ares kids aren't very nice."

"But what about Clarisse?"

"Who?"

I shook my head. No Clarisse? Well, that was a change I could sort of get behind.

"Look Peter, if it's okay with you, I'm going to finish my swim, since whatever it is you want to tell me seems to be a secret anyway." Percy Jackson headed back towards the water.

"Wait," I said, "Do you think we could maybe hang out later?"

Percy Jackson turned. He looked at me for a long time.

I fidgeted, knowing I had kind of fucked up this entire conversation.[3]

Finally, he shrugged. "Sure. I was going to do some combat practice right after lunch. Do you want to do a round?"

"I…Uh…yeah! That'd be great!"

"Cool. See you later." Percy Jackson jumped into the water and was gone.

I headed to the arena with a huge smile on my face. Hell had benefits after all.

Footnotes

[1] It's never really stated, but I guess Peter appeared at camp, fully clothed. I imagine him wearing a fan-made Camp Half-Blood shirt.

[2] This is one of the major changes made in the Lightning Thief fic. I'm guessing it was done for four reasons:

_1_Apollo is often compared to Luke as far as looks go.

_2_It takes away Luke's daddy issues by giving him a different dad.

_3_It gives Luke a cool new set of powers.

_4_Lastly, and this is the biggest guess of all, I suspect the author thought that being a son of Apollo, God of the Sun and Music was a great deal sexier than being a son of the God of Mail. No offense Hermes!

[3] I want to be hard on Peter for being such a fanboy and a kiss-up…but in his situation of meeting a childhood idol, I do not think I would fare any better. And he's still less creepy than some Regency era isekai heroines who stalk and badger poor Jane Austen.