Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Ray Charles

Chapter 9: Will Solace

Will found solace in the sun. Every morning, precisely six o'clock am he would routinely walk to his small window and look outside, because, hot damn. The sun would rise in all its magnificent glory and it would shine as it rose up and up and up, it's rays expressing nothing but purity and beauty.

And yet still, people wore sunglasses and complained heaps about the heat waves they had been having.

Still.

Maybe he did have some sort of connection to it, and it wasn't due to his mother calling him her only sun.

Puns would be the death of him.

No, maybe it was because he might have been the only person to stare the sun directly in the eyes and not have gone blind or have some sort of extravagant dancing disco spots doing the hokey pokey in the eyes.

And so, that one day at school when they were learning about suns in one subject, and preparing for Father's Day in another, Will wanted to smash his guitar on someone's head because no one ever believed him.

"And so children," the teacher proclaimed brightly. "That is why, we must never ever. Never, never, never look at the sun directly. You could face being blind. Which is terrible, but, you could still be extraordinary, like Ray Charles!"

Most children stared at her blankly, their minds so filled with mainstream music of their generation that the name Ray Charles didn't ring any bells.

"But Ray Charles didn't lose his sight because of the sun," a student spoke in confusion. "It was due to glaucoma."

Glaucoma. A word that he had probably never heard in his life but knew what it was immediately. Faintly, he could hear the teacher telling the student that it was called a simile, and just like glaucoma, he knew what the word was.

Shaking his head slightly, Will raised his hand, and obediently waited to be called on before speaking. "But I've done it," he stated truthfully. "Every morning, I stare at the sun rise and-"

"Do you now?" the teacher asked in an amused tone, cutting him off completely. "Well, I'm sure sunglasses would've helped with that statement, now-"

She babbled on some more about that very special day which was that day.

"Father's Day!" She shrieked in delight, raising some cheers. "Let's go make some cards!"

And it was the usual. Construction paper to the left of the table and any extra additions were on the right. Glue sticks were in one bin and scissors were in the other.

Students scrambled to get their favorite colored paper and soon, the only colored paper that was left was pink.

Will stared at it, ignoring the other students behind him who were snickering 'how manly' and his fingers clenched into a very manly fist because there was nothing wrong with pink, it was because he didn't have a-

"Will doesn't have a father," a student who particularly disliked him jeered. "Remember, Miss?"

And he flinched because he remembered when he oh so discreetly told the teacher once that his father wouldn't be coming on career day because he didn't have one and the teacher not so discreetly blurted out, 'you don't have a father?!' And it was ringing in his head and the children were innocently staring at him in shock.

And only this one girl who looked faintly like him shook her head in understanding because she didn't have a father too.

"Oh, yeah," the teacher called out sheepishly, finally remembering. "Sorry, Will, you can go do something else. Like, uh, read or draw or something."

Or something.

"Right," Will responded, bitterly making his way from the table back to his desk, which held a paper airplane note.

Instead of reading it, he crumpled it and made a perfect toss to the recycling bin.

Or something.

He placed his head on his desk, ignoring the spitballs and giggles.

The bell shrilled only minutes after.

Miserably, Will packed up and left, trudging home.

When dinner was served, he stared at the yellow pasta thingies and got reminded of the sun. And his day. And his father.

"Mom, what happened to dad?" He asked.

She sighed, staring at the calendar. Father's Day. She was silent for a few seconds, mulling over the thought. Eventually, she found her words.

"Your father is..." She paused for what Will thought was dramatic effect, but really, she thought the lie was to be quite ironic. "He's extremely ill- caught some sort of special plague or something. It was only when you were born when he was shipped off to some sort of big, fancy, hospital to care for his needs."

Will was silent for a moment, stabbing the pasta with his fork. "Then why can't we visit him?"

Ms. Solace gestured to the bills on the table. "Money problems, Will." She stared at them some more.

Will let her wallow in her misery while he merely looked down and started to eat his food.

"Do you know when he'll be cured?" He finally asked after some silence.

"Well, when he's well," she cracked a small grin, "he'll see you. After all, he has survived for a long time."

Will thought there might have been a double meaning but shrugged it off. Chances were if his dad had survived for a long time, he would survive plenty more.

And one day, he would visit.

A/N: Probably not my best one. To clear up any confusion about the last sentence, 'he' could either mean Will or Apollo. Also, once again, sorry for the late update- since it's the holidays, they will probably get more frequent. Thanks for all the support!

Guest: The boy was actually just a random character with no name. Yes, he was an OC but since I rarely name my OC's, they're unofficial and just side characters. Also, I might write a companion fic for that.